My day typically starts with an alignment call with my payment operations colleague who is based in Paris. We identify the most urgent tasks that need to be addressed during the week, and then discuss who is going to be working on each task. Before we end our call, we try to plan our next in person meeting, which is exciting, as I get to go to Paris or she comes to London!
After the meeting I start going through all the payments we have received in our bank and all our other payment providers and ensure everything has been allocated to the correct customer account with no errors. This process will be repeated several times during the day depending on the bank downloads.
While checking my emails, I noticed that I have received an escalation email from our bank’s compliance team informing us that a payment for us has been withheld, due to a customer inputting incorrect details for the bank transfer. After assessing the case and gathering the necessary information, I forward that to our bank and hope that the case will be resolved with no further issues. If it’s the beginning of the month, the rest of my morning will be spent preparing a month-end report, which I will have to forward to several internal and external stakeholders.
As soon as 12 o’clock hits, everyone in the office starts to discuss what to have for lunch. Our office is surrounded by many restaurants which can cater to different tastes. No matter what your food preference is, you will always find something tasty to enjoy! Today, a colleague and I decide to go for bánh mì at Keu (and, oh my, that was such a good decision).
After lunch there are some further meetings to attend. One is with our tech team, where the focus is on the automation of some operational processes for payments. The next is with our finance team, where we are aligning on some upcoming features.
“Collaboration is important at Hokodo [...] We are always trying to ensure that everyone is aligned and working towards the same goal.”
Before wrapping up, I will always check my calendar in preparation for the next day. Of course, tomorrow looks completely different, with different objectives to focus on. No single day working as a Payment Operations Analyst is the same. Although there are some repetitive tasks which need to be done each day (like making sure all the payments are correctly allocated, that refunds or payouts are issued, etc), this work is balanced by all the exciting projects we can be involved in, such as automation, payments process improvements, or investigative analysis into our system.
Collaboration is important at Hokodo. As a Payment Operations Analyst, I am constantly in contact with my colleagues from the operations, collections, finance and customer success teams. We are always trying to ensure that everyone is aligned and working towards the same goal.
If you had asked me 2 years ago if I would be working at a startup, I may have said no due to the potential instability. However, after working with Hokodo for the past year and a half, I have to admit that it has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I have been challenged and have learnt so much in my position. It has pushed me to work more independently and to learn how to adapt my way of working to every new challenge that comes around.
